Song. Songs of Ourselves Vol. 2

Transcription

1 Song Songs of Ourselves Vol. 2 Notes for English Literature, IGCSE By: Shubhanshi Gaudani Love, a child, is ever crying; Please him, and he straight is flying; Give him, he the more is craving, Never satisfied with having. His desires have no measure; Endless folly is his treasure; What he promiseth he breaketh; Trust not one word that he speaketh. He vows nothing but false matter; And to cozen you will flatter; Let him gain the hand, he ll leave you And still glory to deceive you. He will triumph in your wailing; And yet cause be of your failing: These his virtues are, and slighter Are his gifts, his favours lighter. Feathers are as firm in staying; Wolves no fiercer in their preying; As a child then, leave him crying; Nor seek him so given to flying. By: Lady Mary Wroth NOTES COMPILED BY: SHUBHANSHI GAUDANI 1

2 Summary Song by lady Mary Wroth is an illustration of how love is described to be atrocious, as it is personified a s a weeping child. The poem dating back to the 17th century, cites the perils to virtuous women, in dealing with unscrupulous men in dealing with matters of romance. The comparison that she draws out between a weeping child and love displays the immaturity and loss of self-control that love brings in, making it demand unreasonable and illogical things. Line to Line Analysis Love, a child, is ever crying; Lady Mary Wroth creates this direct comparison by personifying love as a child. At the surface level this creates an effect of how, Wroth seems to pour out her experience of love by comparing it to a child ever crying. She seems to think that love is relatively similar to a child, because it needs nurturing, care, and a lot of hard work. By using the pronoun he/him the writer seems to suggest this attribute of love as coming from men. They are selfish with their love as it is for them a mean to satisfy their own desire. His desires have no measure/endless folly is his treasure. This can also relate to a child, as they have requests and desires that cannot always be fulfilled. They cannot be trusted in matters of love since What he promiseth he breaketh When he has caused you pain, He will triumph in your wailing. Wroth in this poem emphasises a hopeless/pessimistic image of the way the persona is treated in matters of love by her male counterpart, while somehow using a child ever crying to portray love in reality. The other aspect is that the comparison to a child, also has the historical and literary connection to the Roman God of Love - Cupid who is depicted as a child. Structure Stanzas Lines Sentences Has a rhyming scheme of AABB NOTES COMPILED BY: SHUBHANSHI GAUDANI 2

3 Structure of lines shows that the poem has harmony and is balanced throughout all stanzas hence portraying love to be an easy ride. However if we go deeper to see the number of sentences, there is discord there and lot of pauses are put by Wroth, which includes semicolons, commas and full stops after every line. This shows that even if from the surface love looks as an easy journey, it is deceiving and full of bumps. Wroth uses end-stopped quatrains to create a contained feel, as if she is trying to pin down the nature of suffocation and how one gets trapped when in love. The frequently end-stopped lines create a list-like effect of the overwhelming problems of love as, crying, flying, craving despite having. The rhyming couplets create a nursery-rhyme feel which links to the presentation of love as a child and emphasises the frequent juxtapositions. Most lines are balanced, weighing the ingratitude of love against the gifts he receives, contrasting never satisfied despite having at the end of the first stanza. Wroth gives the poem a circular feel by the repetition of flying and crying in both the first and final stanzas, as if love is an endless loop of selfishness. Metaphor and Allegory: Literary Devices Love a child Here love is compared to a child in the poem who is crying and his desires have no measure. This is also an Allegory because love is an abstract feeling that is conveyed in the poem through corporeal object which is a child. Repetition: There are notable repetitions of the words crying and flying in the first two and last two lines. In the first two lines it shows that if the child cries and you please him then what are the consequences that follow up, and in last two lines she concludes that if ever the child cries then leave him and do not let him fly. The repetition of these two words is used by Wroth, to hammer the allegory of love as a child, and Irony: Wroth accuses her husband to be the cause be of your failing because after him she became poor and in debt. However, it was this unhappy marriage that actually helped Wroth write poems in sonnets and helped other women get exposed to different genres than what they usually wrote about during that time. Women usually either translated poems or wrote epitaph genre. So this is an irony that Wroth suggests others to leave him crying whereas it actually helped her gain fame in the literary world. NOTES COMPILED BY: SHUBHANSHI GAUDANI 3

4 Lexical Set: Mairrage: Stanza 2 and 3 talk around the theme of marriage and divorce because of words like promiseth, breaketh, vows, leave etc. It shows that usually men are the ones who take women s advantage and then will happily leave you and breaketh their vows. It is towards men because of the pronouns used his, he and him are used. Enjambment: When we first read the line Please him is flying, it makes us feel that once you give the attention the person is satisfied. However after reading the next line we come to know that that is not what really happens because love or men keep demanding for more and more attention and is never satisfied with having which changes the meaning of the whole stanza as it shifts from positivity and joy of being in love to its darkness. This swift transition and use of enjambment by Wroth in this poem, implies, that at the first go, the emotion of love is faithful, and trustable, and creates a world of positiveness, however, just as how the things at the surface are decieving, once as the reader reads further, and dwells further into the kingdom of love, one realises that this abstract emotion is baseless and hollow, and haunts oneself, to a spineless abyss. The one, who has actually been experienced through this journey of love, realises how disastrous and wrathful love can be. Imagery: Wroth has used a lot of imagery to encapsulate the reader and make one believe the sufferings that she has used. Feathers are as firm in staying; Wolves no fiercer in their preying; are very impactful in giving the abstract emotion a true depiction of its deceptive nature. The imagery of wolf also implies the fact, where love is Title The whole poem itself is ironical because the title SONG links with the rhythm and rhyme of the poem. The iambic tetrameter which consists of four iambs each line (8 syllables) creates the regular rhythm throughout the poem, just like a song. Moreover, the aabb rhyme scheme creates a harmony in the poem, but the poem actually talks about the negative side of love such as As a child leave him crying which creates a cacophony of mismatching attributes of love, which are dangerous and greedy. Just by glancing at the poem and its title, one may realise that the verses praise love, however after reading the poem, one realises how wrathful and deceiving it is. In the same manner, people often regard love as the gateway to eternal pleasure, and a bond of compassion and trust, but those who experience it and have fallen in love, Wroth being one of them sees love as betraying and merely a hoax. Theme NOTES COMPILED BY: SHUBHANSHI GAUDANI 4

5 Love s dark side - Love is defined to be a strong feeling of affection however, here it is shown to be deceiving and never satisfactory despite whatever is done by both of the people. Unhappy marriage or relationship Gender inequality NOTES COMPILED BY: SHUBHANSHI GAUDANI 5